London close: Stocks finish week on a positive note
London stocks closed above the waterline on Friday as investors continued to mull over Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s support package, and as a key inflation measure stateside dipped as anticipated.
The FTSE 100 ended the session up 0.27% at 7,585.46, and the FTSE 250 added 0.61% to 20,372.52.
Sterling was also in the green, last rising 0.11% on the dollar to $1.2614, while it strengthened 0.27% against the euro to €1.1782.
"Stocks on both sides of the Atlantic seem content to push higher for the time being, but this isn’t a return to the old ways of steady gains," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"A gain of even 10% from here might look like an all-clear signal for investors, but growth and earnings forecasts probably need to come down a bit more, which in turn points towards fresh lows for the market in the months to come."
In economic news, a key measure of inflation in the US dipped last month, even as personal incomes and spending continued growing at a steady clip.
According to the US Department of Commerce, in April personal incomes and spending grew at a month-on-month pace of 0.4% and 0.7% respectively, compared to consensus expectations for 0.5% and 0.6%>
The annual rate of change in the headline price deflator for personal consumption expenditures meanwhile slipped from 6.6% for March to 6.3% this time around.
Compared to March, headline PCE was up by 0.2% after a 0.9% jump in the month before.
It was a quiet Friday for equities in London, but Moonpig tumbled 8.23% after various shareholders sold around £80m worth of shares in the online greeting cards and gift retailer in a placing.
The shares were placed at 250p each, which is an 8% discount to the closing share price on Thursday.
BP was 0.92% weaker after saying late on Thursday that it would review its North Sea investments after the government unveiled a windfall tax on oil and gas producers.
Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline was down 0.34% even after it said China's National Medical Products Administration has approved a two-dose vaccine schedule for its Cervarix treatment in girls aged between 9 to 14 years for the prevention of cervical cancer.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,585.46 0.27%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,372.52 0.61%
techMARK (TASX) 4,443.68 0.44%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 794.80p 6.57%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 898.20p 5.01%
Experian (EXPN) 2,695.00p 3.34%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,120.00p 2.59%
Halma (HLMA) 2,265.00p 2.44%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 129.00p 2.38%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,273.00p 2.34%
Prudential (PRU) 1,030.00p 2.28%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,558.00p 2.27%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 10,565.00p 2.18%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Harbour Energy (HBR) 382.10p -10.77%
ITV (ITV) 70.64p -3.86%
Pearson (PSON) 742.80p -1.95%
Royal Mail (RMG) 321.00p -1.92%
National Grid (NG.) 1,164.00p -1.90%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,805.00p -1.80%
SSE (SSE) 1,752.50p -1.63%
Fresnillo (FRES) 802.00p -1.47%
GSK (GSK) 1,733.20p -1.17%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,755.50p -1.10%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ninety One (N91) 234.60p 5.77%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 230.00p 5.02%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 166.60p 4.91%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 337.00p 4.79%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 198.60p 4.42%
Smithson Investment Trust (SSON) 1,297.00p 4.32%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 702.00p 4.31%
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,350.00p 4.21%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 1,108.00p 3.75%
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 1,940.00p 3.74%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,113.00p -6.75%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 255.80p -6.02%
Drax Group (DRX) 656.00p -4.16%
Investec (INVP) 470.00p -3.61%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 389.50p -3.23%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 55.45p -2.97%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 870.50p -2.95%
Centrica (CNA) 77.24p -2.40%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 141.00p -2.35%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 352.80p -2.05%